See how Tom Cruise pulled off the shocking plane stunt in ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’

The return of Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt has everyone talking, but not because we didn’t expect him to do another Mission Impossible movie. No, it’s because the 53-year-old Cruise is once again doing as many of his own stunts as he is capable of doing, including one on a plane that looks more and more terrifying every time you’ve seen it.

You’ve probably seen it in the trailers and commercials: Ethan Hunt climbs on a plane’s wing moments before it takes off, but before he can get the door open, the plane begins ascending with him hanging on for dear life. And it’s all real — no green screens, no stunt doubles, no CGI. Tom Cruise actually stood on a plane during takeoff.

On Monday, the studio released a behind-the-scenes featurette focusing entirely on the stunt. There are a few interesting tidbits in the video, including the fact that what they thought would be a single-take scene turned into eight separate takes. That’s eight times Cruise risked his life to make sure they got the shot right.

“If something went wrong, I can’t get into the airplane until we land,” explained Cruise. “I’m actually scared s***less”